


it's just a capitalist scam

by punktaekai (Loki_Likey_Thor_Odinson)



Category: SHINee, SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Baker Kwon Boa | BoA, Chef Kim Kibum | Key, Delivery Boy Kim Jongin | Kai, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Film Journalist Lee Taemin, Film Store Owner Choi Minho, Films, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Shopping, Lee Taemin is a Horror Expert, M/M, Minor Kim Kibum | Key/Kwon Boa | BoA, Not Beta Read, Presents, Radio Host Kim Jonghyun, Shopping, Slice of Life, Store Owner Choi Minho, Store Owner Lee Jinki | Onew, Surprises, Taemythos Fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26595511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loki_Likey_Thor_Odinson/pseuds/punktaekai
Summary: It's Halloween, which means it's Taemin's day, his ultimate form. Jonghyun can't stand the over hyped commercialized idea of Halloween but he can stand it for Taemin - and maybe he can even buy a pumpkin spiced latte or two.or: i just love how much taemin loves horror and i wanted to write him having halloween as his christmas/birthday/type event in his tiny little village with his boyfriend and friends 🎃
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun/Lee Taemin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25
Collections: Taemythological Halloween Special Round





	it's just a capitalist scam

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be like 1.3k of fluff, I do not know what happened but please have Extra fluff !

"Two pumpkin spiced lattes, please." Taemin bounces on the balls of feet, his smile wide as he watches the barista disappear to the coffee machine.

Jonghyun groans behind Taemin, gently smacking his arm. "Hey, why are you ordering me one, I told you I hate these things."

"Don't do this right here where the barista can hear you, come on." Taemin rolls his eyes, opening his diet cola as he waits for the lattes.

"These things are just capitalist traps."

"And Valentine's Day is just a Hallmark event to sell cards."

"But it is! All Valentine's is for is selling heart shaped chocolates and cards for a bunch of dates that people could have any other day and to pressure people to go to expensive restaurants and spend, spend, _spend_."

"So it's Halloween, will you take me to an expensive restaurant tonight to declare your love for me and buy me an amazing drink rather than on Valentine’s since we can do it any day?"

Jonghyun hands his card over as the barista appears, two to go coffees in hand. "No, I'm not gonna take you out for dinner. It's Halloween."

"But Halloween is just an event to sell pumpkin themed stuff that never gets sold other times of the year and to extort candy prices." Taemin mimics Jonghyun’s voice with an innocent flutter of his eyelashes.

Jonghyun gives a dead eyed stare for a moment before he sighs. "It is. But it's also Halloween and you're an utter horror freak and if I don't watch horror films that are going to traumatise me all night with you, you'll never let me hear the end of it."

Taemin grins, dropping his cola in his bag and holding his latte close to his chest. "Ah, I've trained you so well." He heads to the cafe door, hovering as he waits for Jonghyun to get his card back and join him, both of them falling into silence. 

“I can’t believe you convinced me to buy these.

"I didn't, you handed over your card yourself."

Jonghyun opens his mouth, pausing. "Oh my god, you have me so whipped. I can't believe I just aided in the capitalist holiday scam taking over for you."

Taemin flutters his eyelashes again. "It's one of the sweetest things you've done for me." He leans in, pressing a kiss to Jonghyun's cheek with a chuckle. "We still need to go to the store and look at what trashy horror films they have on sale for Halloween this year."

Jonghyun sighs as they head down the street. "Taemin, your horror movie collection is close to needing it's own closet, you can't keep buying more horrors." Jonghyun takes a sip of his latte and stares at it in his hand as he swallows. "Hey, this isn't so bad, wow."

Taemin chuckles. "They're really good! It's not just the Halloween spooky appeal for them, you know? And I can and I will buy more horror films, I have not yet collected half of the Korean horror I'm missing. I'm hoping they brought back _A Devilish Homicide_ , you know the one from 1965? It's not too rare to find it dotted around in stores but _none_ around here have it, it's so upsetting."

"Why don't you just order it from the Internet?"

Taemin shrugs. "I don't know, it's just not the same as looking through stand after stand of movies and _finding_ it, you know? It's more fun this way."

Jonghyun can only nod, knowing he's the same with old vinyls. He pulls the door to Minho's video store open for Taemin, letting him hop through, skipping down to the horror section. Jonghyun chuckles and follows him, smiling softly. It is adorable how animated Taemin gets when it comes down to his horrors and thrillers. He tilts his head, joining Taemin in flipping through DVD cases; Taemin's been writing scripts for horror films, so excited, watching hours upon hours of content. Last time Jonghyun saw Taemin's Letterboxd, he had seen over one thousand films and a good four hundred of them had been horror or thriller. He's always so excited to learn more about different countries' horror cinematic culture, begging Jonghyun to take him to America to see the Screamfest Film Festival every year, anything he could. He wonders if any of Taemin's scripts will really take hold and be picked up by someone to be brought to life.

"Hey." Jonghyun picks up a DVD case. "Isn't this that 1997 or 1998 film you were looking for last year?"

Taemin looks over and immediately lights up. " _The Hole_! Yes, oh my gosh, it's that one I was telling you about where the woman moves in with her mother-in-law, remember?"

"No."

"It had 141,717 admissions after being released on the first of November and was the tenth best selling Korean film of 97!"

"Rings a bell."

"It's not ringing any bells at all, is it?"

"Nope." Jonghyun flushes, grinning weakly. "But tell me more."

"It's pretty cliche domestic horror, but it's just one with history, you know?" Taemin tucks it under his arm, starting to go through another rack of DVDs. "I doubt I'll even like it that much but it's good learning material."

"Weren't you writing a paper on the evolution of Korean horror?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking it could work for."

"So why don't we watch it on Netflix?"

"Because I don't _want_ to watch it on Netflix."

"You know you could save a good amount of money if you just got that new streaming service. What is it... Shudder? That Netflix for horror films thing you told me about."

"Oh yeah, I have an account, I still just like having hard copies."

Jonghyun scoffs and picks up a case, reading the back. He wrinkles his nose at the description, feeling queasy imaging the scenes and puts it down. Taemin perks up.

"Is that a collector's copy of Death Bell?"

"There is no way I'm watching that with you."

"Roo has bigger balls than you do."

"Roo sleeps through every movie you make us watch." 

Taemin sticks his tongue out and grins. Jonghyun sees the growing collection under Taemin's arm, how he struggles to put them there without them slipping as he tries to not drop his latte and sighs. He heads back to the store door and grabs a basket; he silently slips the films from Taemin's arm and puts them in the basket. "How long are we going to be here?"

Taemin shrugs, humming as he reads titles. He drops a few more in the basket before heading to a different part of the aisle, starting the process again. Jonghyun sighs and heads to the fantasy section. Don't get him wrong, he absolutely _loves_ watching horror films, but some of the ones Taemin picks are so... _ghoulish_. He doesn't have the same love as his partner but that doesn't mean he won't sit and binge through everything Taemin wants to watch tonight. He picks up a few films, looking over the back of them before he heads back to the aisle. Taemin's on the last part of the horror aisle, looking through a handful of about seven films. He tries to make some decision before he shrugs and drops them all in the basket. 

Jonghuyn stares at the almost overflowing basket and raises an eyebrow. "And how much is that going to cost?"

"Birthday present from Mom. And Dad. And... well everyone."

"You save all the money you get for your birthday just to binge on horror movie buying?"

"Mhm." Taemin takes a mouthful of his latte and grabs the basket, standing up and grinning. "What did you get?"

Jonghyun looks at the few DVDs in his hand. " _Along With the Gods, Psychokinesis_ and _Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned_."

"Ohh, they sound pretty good." Taemin holds the basket out and Jonghyun drops the films in. "Weekend fantasy night?"

"Sounds like a plan." Jonghyun grins and follows Taemin to the till.

Jonghyun leans against the counter, watching Taemin as he pouts and flirts with the teller. Jonghyun glances at Minho, watching the way he glowers but how he stares at Taemin's pout, the way he leans forward, letting his sweater fall loose, the way his eyelashes flutter ever so gently. Minho sighs. "You know, I know Jonghyun is your boyfriend?" Jonghyun snorts.

"Oh."

"You don't have to flirt with me to try and chase down stock for you."

"Oh. Well that's easier, Minho-sshi, please can you track down that collector's edition of _Whispering Corridors_ for me? The whole box set, you _never_ have it in."

"I never have it in because you're the only one that comes in here looking for horror."

"I am your best customer!"

"Fourth best, actually. And how many times do I have to tell you to stop drinking in my store?"

Taemin pouts and fishes his wallet out his pocket. "Can I flirt to keep the drink?"

"Sealed drinks _only_ and I'll leave it be."

"Done!" Taemin bounces and grins. "How much is all this?"

"It's going to be..." Minho drifts off as he finishes scanning them. 104,545 Won."

Jonghyun's mouth drops open. "Taemin, that's as much as I spend on a decent pair of shoes! Designer ones!"

Minho scoffs. "And let's not forget the fact I give him a discount and my prices are really cheap."

Taemin looks between them, pulling out a card from his wallet. "I'm feeling pretty judged here."

Jonghyun sighs and helps Minho start putting the DVDs in bags. "When did you get these big bags?"

"Since the time I had to give Taemin thirteen tiny ones just to carry all his buys."

Jonghyun snorts, shaking his head. "Hey, you, me, Jinki, Taemin, next weekend. Be off work by six, Kibum's opening a new restaurant and I swindled our way onto the guest list with the fancy organiser he has."

"She's not a fancy organiser, Jonghyun, she's a literal five-star rated organiser who works with celebrities, idols and gourmet chefs."

"Well, Miss 5-Star Organiser has us on the guest list, we have to be there for Kiibum's first night! Do not be late."

"I'll be there, I'll be there." 

Jonghyun grins only for his smile to falter as Taemin heads out the store. Jonghyun stares at the bag in his hand and sighs. "Boyfriends, who'd have them?"

Minho laughs. "I'll get him that box set for Christmas, keep him off my back about it?"

"Done."

Jonghyun waves as best he can with a latte in one hand and a bag of DVDs in the other and heads to the door. Taemin is waiting outside, smiling as he watches a group of people passing in costume. Jonghyun joins him, smiling. "You know, one year we're going to have to do a couple costume."

Taemin giggles. "We're doing that this year."

"We are?"

Taemin nods and grins, heading down the street.

“Are you going to tell me about this couple’s costume?”

“You’ll find out later.” Taemin grins over his shoulder. “Do you want to get lunch? We have to go grocery shopping but we could just pick something up there and make food when we get home, or we could nip into Kibum’s.”

“I don’t know if Kibum will be there, he’s really busy over his new restaurant.”

“If he’s not, Boa should be there and her stuff is probably better than Kibum’s.”

“Don’t let Kibum here you say that.” Jonghyun chuckles. 

Taemin shrugs. “He’s so besotted with her he would probably agree. Have you noticed the way he watches her like a love sick puppy?”

Jonghyun nods. “Did you know when he was interviewing her and they were doing that thing he does, you know where he makes the interviewee make something at the same time as him? He almost cut the tip of his finger off because he was distracted by how pretty she was.”

Taemin giggle-snorts, shaking his head. “You think they’ll ever get together?”

Arms suddenly appear around their shoulders, making them jump. Kibum grins between them. “We went on a date last week, you annoying bastards.”

Jonghyun laughs whilst the tips of Taemin’s ears go bright red. Kibum snorts. “Come have lunch, even if you just get take out. I made a new little Halloween dish just for Taemin.”

Jonghyun groans. “Do you have to encourage him?” There’s no venom in his voice; the way Taemin has just lit up like a firework show makes his heart beat quicker.

“What is it?”

“Well, come on in and you’ll see.”

Jonghyun shakes his head, grinning. “I have to get back and walk Roo soon, so probably just take out.”

“On one condition.”

“Which is?”

“I get to watch Taemin lose his shit over my new dish.”

Taemin giggles, bouncing slightly on his feet as they head for the small eatery on the corner. “I will walk Roo for the entirety of November if you let me try it.”

Jonghyun nods. “Alright, sure thing.” 

Kibum opens the door for them, waving them in. “I tried to get you guys on the guest list, by the way, but my organiser made a mistake.”

“Oh, did she?” Jonghyun raises his eyebrows, faking concern. “That sucks, I thought she was the best?”

“Best I could _afford_ with the last of the cash set aside for the restaurant.” Kibum heads to the counter, nodding at a table for them to sit down at. He leans over when Boa appears, smiling as she holds a plate of cookies. “I thought I said no cookies!”

“I know but look how cute these little pumpkins are! And they’re a new flavour I created. A lot of the kids on opening night coming with their parents will be sad that Halloween is over so I thought it’d be nice to do.”

Jonghyun groans. “Not you too.”

Boa sticks her tongue out, placing the tray in the display with the few deserts the eatery offers and pulls three out. She hands them out and Jonghyun watches as Taemin sits up, grinning at it. “Boa! It’s so cute, look at the little face on this guy, I’m scared to eat him. He’s so adorable.” 

He looks up at Jonghyun and Jonghyun freezes, half of the cookie already in his mouth. He grins around it and Taemin pouts before he breaks off a small part of the stem. He chews on it, shaking his shoulders back and forth. “Oh my god, this is gorgeous. Fuck Kibum, go off and own your own bakery or something.”

Kibum gently taps Taemin round the back of the head and Boa laughs. “You taste what I used?”

“There’s almonds in the cookie, mixed with I think you used a puree, with some nutmeg and cinnamon.”

“Very good Taemin.” Boa smiles, letting Kibum feed her a piece of his own cookie. “I already made a large party size box for you to take home for your horror movie night, Kibum’s told me all about it.”

“Last year he gave me a black eye because I interrupted his movie.” 

Taemin scowls. “It was an accident, I literally got jumpscared and threw my arms up!”

Jonghyun laughs. “Mr. I’m Not Scared, I Never Get Scared, At Most Only Startled getting jumpscared? You expect us to believe that?”

Taemin turns his attention back to his cookie, holding his head high. “You guys suck, Boa wanna come watch horror movies all night?”

Boa laughs and waves her hand, pecking Kibum’s cheek and heading back to the kitchen. Kibum shakes his head and stands up, heading to the kitchen. “Let me get you that recipe.”

“And a cola!” Taemin wriggles out of his jacket and Jonghyun sighs.

“How did I know one cookie and you’d be pulled into staying longer?”

“Ask your sister to walk Roo? _Please_?"

Jonghyun chuckles and pulls his phone out of his pocket, tapping it and Taemin giggles. "Thank you."

"We're taking her on an extra long on tomorrow though."

"Very gladly." Taemin bobs in his seat before looking up with a gasp as Kibum comes over with a tray.

"So, this is just a Vietnamese dish, this isn't something I've created. I have made my own little twist but I wanted you guys to try it properly first." He puts the bowls down gently and stands back. "Pumpkin and pork rib soup."

Taemin makes a soft ooo picking up his spoon. He's quick to gently sip the liquid of the soup, moving it around his mouth. He nods and eagerly gets a mouthful, quickly scooping up some rice from the bowl Kibum brought with it. "Mm, kabocha pumpkin... pork obviously, is that a touch of butternut squash as well?"

Kibum nods, chuckling. "You have the mouth of a chef, you know that? Yeah, we just had some left over kabocha and it wasn't enough for one batch so I went online and people trying this dish traditionally who couldn't get kabocha substituted butternut so I added a bit to it for a bit of contrast but to keep the flavour as much as I could."

Jonghyun nods, swallowing. "This is good, Kibum, really good. Absolutely perfect for autumn."

“And Halloween!” Taemin pipes up for a moment before he busies himself with his soup again.

Kibum grins and sits at the table with them. "So what's the plan for tonight? If I dare ask as if I’m expecting something different."

Jonghyun chuckles. "It's just movie night."

Kibum grins. "Perfect."

"Are you going to risk interrupting him again?"

"This is a good interruption, I promise." 

Jonghyun nods slowly, narrowing his eyes before he looks at Taemin. He snorts, covering his mouth. "Taemin, your shirt."

Taemin pauses, mid-mouthful, and looks down to see in his excitement, he'd splashed some of the sauce all down himself. He chuckles, putting his chopsticks down to dab at it with a napkin. Kibum coos softly. "You're adorable in your Halloween excitement, you know that?"

Taemin grins and settles back to eat his rice. Kibum heads behind the counter as people start to drift in, the lunch rush starting to filter in. They eat in silence, quickly, knowing Kibum will want the table. Jonghyun raises his eyebrow as Boa rushes over, smiling. “Hey, before you go.” 

She sets a basket down. “There’s some of the soup in there, frozen, just put it in the freezer when you get back. Open the bags, drop them in a pan, and heat them for about five minutes. There is a small basket of cookies in there too and the little jars have one helping each of my pumpkin hot chocolate. The smaller baggies full of powder is the mix and the recipe is on the back of each of the jars, hand written and there’s a recipe for the cookies with them.”

Taemin grabs the basket, smiling wide. “Thank you, Boa, and thank Kibum for us!”

“No problem, have an awesome night, I hope the cookies make movie night even better for you.” She leans forward, whispering. “Don’t tell anyone else but if you dip the cookies in the hot chocolate, and swill it around for about thirty seconds, it’s the ultimate taste.”

“Why can’t we tell anyone that?”

“Because I only just found out and haven’t written it on the labels yet so I need to get some old stock out and then make duo packs.”

Taemin laughs and nods, placing the basket down to pull his jacket on. “What do we owe you?”

“Nothing at all! Have fun you guys.”

Jonghyun waves before he grabs the bag of films, stretching his legs slightly as he heads for the door. Taemin follows, shivering as they head outside. “I thought it was meant to be warm today?”

“Have you still not learned to not trust the weather forecast?”

"Yeah, but it said to bring no jacket, so I brought a lighter one instead."

Jonghyun chuckles and Taemin sighs. "We should drop this stuff back to the car and then head to the store."

Jonghyun groans. "How much are you about to spend on Halloween candy?"

"Too much for us to have full hands already." 

Jonghyun chuckles and they head back to the street they started at. It's a small quiet street, nothing of note in the surrounding area and Taemin hums. Jonghyun opens the boot and carefully places the film bag in the corner, making sure to push the spare tyre against it so it can't fall over. Taemin places the basket in and leans against the car for a moment. "Hey, are you happy here?"

Jonghyun looks up, eyebrow raising before he shuts the boot. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Just.. I love this little village don't get me wrong. You know we have to drive a little while to get to the shops and everything, but everyone around here is so friendly and it's just sweet and small but..."

"Sometimes it feels _too_ small?"

"Yeah."

"I mean,it's not that small, surely, we have a Starbucks."

Taemin bursts into laughter, shaking his head as he grabs the reusable bags from the back seat. "Yeah, you're probably right. Ugh, you don't think gentrification is going to happen here?"

"Bloody well hope not."

They start heading back to the shopping street, Taemin kicking a stone as they go. Jonghyun purses his lips. "What's all this about this place feeling too small then? Do you want to move?"

"No, no, I like living here just." Taemin sighs. "I was thinking about going back to college but for film and media studies, looking at directing courses and such."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, the nearest few colleges nearby just don't have those courses and it just. You know it's just... small in opportunities sometimes."

Jonghyun nods, taking Taemin's hand as they walk. "We could move."

"The thing is I don't want to have to move to follow what I want to do, you know? Maybe I can find somewhere close enough for commuting."

Jonghyun gives Taemin's hand a squeeze and smiles. "Yeah, I'm sure you can. We'll have a look and go over everywhere within commuting space this week."

Taemin smiles at Jonghyun, eyes bright before he steps away, heading into the convenience store. He immediately heads to the first aisle, grinning. "Jinkleeees."

Jinki jumps where he was stocking a delivery and smiles. "Hey you two, I was beginning to think the world was ending."

Jonghyun laughs. "Yeah, we're later than usual for Halloween. Minho stocked up the horror aisle more for this one and then Kibum and Boa called us in to try some new things and of course, Taemin had to sit in and eat every last bite."

Jinki laughs. "Oh good, so it wasn't just me."

Jonghyun blinks and Taemin leans in. "Oh?"

"If you go into the stock room, there's three boxes stacked to the right of the door. They're all Halloween candy that was selling pretty quickly so I kept some back for Taemin to rifle through. Just grab a basket or cart and have fun. Jonghyun, I managed to track down a local seller for cow liver, there's some in the freezers but there won't be much more till next week."

Jonghyun grins. "You managed to find a butcher for me?"

"Yeah, my usual guy didn't have it in stock, he already sells out to someone but he managed to help me find another butcher he knows who's also ethical."

Taemin frowns. "I mean, can you even be ethical in that field of work?"

Jinki chuckles. "I guess, not really, but they use much more environmentally safe methods, they're much more careful with the animals and they ensure to cause absolutely no unnecessary pain to their animals. There are some... really horrid farmers and butchers out there so the best we can do is ensure to source from more ethical places."

Taemin purses his lips. "Makes sense. But now I'm horrified at the idea there is meat you can buy that isn't ethically sourced."

Jinki smiles. "Well, I promise you that I only source from them and I ensure if I can't get, for instance, ethical beef, I don't stock beef until I find somewhere decent."

"What if someone needs beef for dietary requirements?"

"Like what?"

"Like, say I was really lacking on protein so my doctor said I had to eat more beef, making it a dietary requirement?"

"Then, I would have to find somewhere to get it for you."

"But you couldn't promise in that instance it would be entirely ethical to your usual standards."

"Taemin, you're giving me a headache."

Jonghyun rolls his eyes and nudges Taemin's arm. "Go find your candy."

Taemin huffs but grabs a cart and disappears to the stock room. Jonghyun chuckles and grabs a basket before joining Jinki again, looking over the tins. "Always Taemin."

"Yeah, well that's just Taemin being Taemin. He's always relaly inquistive in weird ways... He's not gone vegan has he?"

Jonghyun laughs. "And if he did there would be nothing wrong with that. No, he hasn't gone vegan, I think he just didn't know any of that was a thing."

"Oh, of course not, I just mean the questioning was weird." Jinki chortles and looks up as the stock room door closes. "Okay, listen."

Jonghyun stares, blinking. "Okay... I'm listening."

"I know Taemin has his little ritual on Halloween but tonight, when is the best time for me, Minho and Kibum to smuggle in a surprise for him?"

"What do you mean?"

Jinki shrugs, pushing some more cans of diced tomatoes onto the shelf. "You know, he gets more excited about Halloween than he does Chuuseok, his birthday, Christmas. It's sort of his like main holiday like Christmas for kids."

"What about it?" 

"We kind of got him a present and we need your help with it because we're ridiculous."

"What did you get?"

"You remember Lucas? That kid who walks dogs from the rescue center, he drives them down here and walks them in the big fields so they can just run and sprint and play?"

"Yeah... What did you do?"

"Well, Taemin and I went out one day for lunch and he got distracted by these two dogs Lucas was walking, and he loved them so much he almost cried when we had to leave and whenever he sees them, it's like he's suddenly possessed by something and cannot be away from them."

"Oh... Adam and Eve?"

"Yeah, those two."

"Lee Jinki what did you do?"

"We may have broken into your house last week with someone from the adoption group, explained our plan and adopted them for Taemin and they may currently be living in Minho's house whilst we wait for the perfect moment to sneak in tonight and surprise him."

Jonghyun's mouth drops open slightly and he blinks. "You're kidding."

"I'm really not."

"Oh my god, he's going to love that but I have no idea uh. I'll text you near the end of one of the movies and come up with something, I'll text you halfway through so you can get round and then I can smuggle you guys into the bedroom... what if they bark?"

"That... I have no idea yet."

"Jinkles!"

They fall silent, looking over their shoulder to see the top of the store room door is pushed open. "Taemin?"

"Help."

"What did you do?" Jinki heads down the aisle and Jonghyun follows him, peering round the door. Taemin grins at them from the side of the door, sitting down and held down by a large number of boxes.

They sigh and pull him out as he giggles. "My bad. I knocked one over and then they all just went. You should really order your stock room better."

Jonghyun rolls his eyes and then spots the cart, mouth dropping open. "Taemin, we barely fill one of these carts on an entire monthly shop."

"I know."

"It's overflowing with all the candy you've chucked in here!"

"It's not just candy!" Taemin brushes himself off as he stands before he starts moving boxes of Halloween limited edition candy around. "See, there's toffee apple cider too."

"Where are we even going to store this?"

"I'll eat it within a week, it's fine."

Jonghyun shakes his head, sighing.

"You're going to fuck your health eating all this, you know?"

"And I'll deal with it when the time comes! Let me live!"

Jonghyun shakes his head and chuckles. "Alright, you go start... getting all this rung up, by the time you and Jinki are done with all this I should have the groceries."

Taemin nods and Jinki grabs the end of the cart, both of them navigating it down to the tills. Jonghyun snorts and heads back to the aisles. He makes sure to grab extra dog food and then heads back to the tills, loading the stuff they need for the week onto the belt.

"We don't need that much dog food."

"Yeah, but." Jonghyun swallows. "Jinki messed up the pricing last time I bought some and he said he'd give me one for free next time I got some and I'm going to forget next time we buy some, so at least this way we know Roo won't run out for a while."

Taemin nods, throwing boxes of candy into bags. He tries to lift some of them and winces, putting them back down. Jinki chuckles. "Leave it, my delivery guy should be back from his run soon, I'll have him drop it all off for you guys a little later, in _plenty_ of time for your movie night."

They nod and Jonghyun grabs the small bag of groceries. "I think all that's left is to get home, play with Roo and relax."

Taemin nods, yawning slightly as they head out, waving to Jinki as they make their way back to the car. Jonghyun drops the groceries into the boot and watches as Taemin gets into the passenger seat and smiles. He grabs the blanket from the back of the car for when they take road trips or when they travel with Roo and gets into the driver's seat. He carefully wraps the fabric around Taemin and settles back. The car comes to life as he turns the key and he focuses on the road. 

He refuses to turn the radio on, letting Taemin nap on their way back, thinking. He remembers his old college tutor, Tony Ahn. He managed to find Jonghyun _everything_ he needed, between internships, essay topics, old graduates who helped him write CVs perfectly for a radio host job. Jonghyun should email him about Taemin's predicament, explain how they don't want to move, that Taemin would rather commute within reason. He's sure Tony would be able to find them everything and anything within a few weeks to find Taemin the perfect college placement. He smiles, nodding to himself as they pull onto the long country road that they live on. 

He's broken out of his thoughts, smiling when he sees his sister in the front yard, chasing Roo to try and get a ball back from her. He laughs and carefully pulls into the driveway and gets out. "Help me out with the bags? Taemin's asleep."

She waves and heads over; it only takes one trip between them, the films and the basket, and the two grocery bags and Jonghyun hugs her. "Thanks for looking after Roo."

"Hey, it's Taemin's day, it's absolutely no problem. Besides, I love Roo more than I love you."

Jonghyun snorts and follows her out, waving as she heads down the road before he opens the passenger side door. He lifts Roo into the car, placing her gently on Taemin's lap. She jumps onto his chest, licking his chin, barking softly and Taemin's frowns. He cracks an eyelid open before smiling, an arm appearing from under the blanket to stroke down her back. "Hey there, girl."

Taemin rubs his eye as he maneuvers the seatbelt around Roo, holding her to his chest as he gets out. "Do you think Roo ever gets lonely?"

"When we go out?"

"Yeah."

"She might do, but I think she might just sleep a lot when we go out. Why?"

"I was thinking about getting some dogs. Or a dog."

"Oh?"

"Yeah... You know I never had a pet when I was a kid? And you already had Roo when we met, so it wasn't like she was mine, in a way, she had to get used to me and get to know me, you know? It was a bit different to buying or adopting my own."

"I get what you mean... We definitely have the space for another, or more, dogs."

"You know Lucas, the dog walker?"

"I do." Jonghyun raises an eyebrow, hiding his face from Taemin as they head into the house. Roo follows Jonghyun, free from Taemin's arms, barking at him. He chuckles and bends down, gently stroking her. "Alright, I'll get you a treat in just a second." 

"He has these two really sweet dogs... Adam and Eve, at the rescue he works at. They're these adorable, sweet little things who just... I don't know I love them a lot and whenever they see me, they always come sprinting up and drag Lucas behind them just to say hello and I was just thinking about maybe reaching out to the rescue and adopting them. They're adorable little things and I just. I always miss them a lot when we have to go our separate ways, you know?"

Jonghyun nods, smiling as Roo lays down and rolls onto her back, tongue hanging out her mouth. "Good girl." Jonghyun chucks the treat into the living room, watching her scramble onto her feet to sprint after it. "I get what you mean, I was the same when I saw Roo as a puppy. I think it'd be good."

"You do?"

"Yeah, but I think we should wait a little until we know what you're doing for college."

Taemin nods and starts pulling tins out the grocery bags, starting to put them away. Jonghyun starts unpacking the food basket from Kibum. "So what films are we going to watch tonight?"

"Well, you remember I wrote some film reviews... One of them for _Modern Family_ that was released in 2011 when it was up for re-relase in cinemas and it helped generate a lot of buzz for the re-showing?"

"I remember, you were ecstatic about it."

"Well, the director of that reached out to the online site I wrote for. Kim Kwang Bin? Remember he has that new movie out with Ha Jung Woo and Kim Nam Gil?"

"Yeah, you wrote about how Kim Nam Gil almost didn't say yes to the movie because he believes in ghosts and was uneasy about what might happen if he took on the film."

"That's right! Well Kwang Bin really liked my review and _The Closet_ is up for a short Halloween run in the coming weeks. You know, the way everyone seems to watch horror movies after Halloween rather than going to the cinema on Halloween?"

"I know, you love it when everyone does that because it means we normally get late night Halloween premiere showings in more peace because most people just don't want to go out on Halloween."

"Yeah, so Kwang Bin has actually sent me a pre-release DVD of The Closet. He asked me and I said I hadn't gotten a chance due to the piece I was writing at the time, my overall summary of South Korean horror versus Western horror, and how Asian cinema has the different tropes and everything? He wants me to review it since my last article did great in bringing in some more views so I thought we'd watch that."

"That's amazing, Taeminnie." Jonghyun wraps his arms around Taemin's waist, smiling. "You know, give it another year or so and I would think you'd become one of those big horror film reviewers, the ones that get flown around the world to see premieres and everything."

Taemin chuckles. "I don't get flown around the world, I'd have to pay my own tickets and I definitely need to improve my English more before I think about stuff like that but... Maybe, I can see it happening if I keep up with the writing I'm doing and keep improving over the months." 

Jonghyun presses a kiss to his cheek. "Are we just watching _The Closet_ tonight?"

"I was thinking _The Red Shoes_ and maybe _Don't Click_ , if we make it through the first two."

"One year, I'm going to have to give up and let you control the television literally all day."

"You really should, it is an outrage that you confine me to the evenings."

Jonghyun chuckles and presses a kiss to Taemin's shoulder before he picks up one of the bags of dog food. He cuts it open, tipping it into the large holder in the corner of the kitchen. "What do you want to do this afternoon?"

"I was thinking of just finishing off an article I was writing and then taking a nap, in all honesty. I'm exhausted."

"Couldn't sleep last night?"

"One of the films I was watching gave me a nightmare that kept waking me up."

Jonghyun frowns. "Are you alright?"

Taemin chuckles. "I'm fine, industry hazard I guess. Good film though, I'm so used to horror I don't get nightmares so often, you know? Damn good film to have me so on edge it lingered in my subconscious."

Jonghyun grins. Only Taemin could find a brighter side to something like this. "Alright, I'm going to look through our take out menus because honestly I don't want to cook tonight. Greasy pizza, gross slightly over cooked fries and the rest of the usual?"

Taemin groans. "That sounds absolutely _heavenly_ , I should marry you."

Jonghyun laughs and shakes his head. "You always can."

"And be chained to you _forever_? Never again able to jokingly flirt around to get the films I really want?"

Jonghyun laughs, shaking his head. "You go and work on your article. I'll bring you up a snack in a bit, just some fruit?"

"Mm... Do we have any cola?"

Jonghyun pulls the fridge open and peers in. "Diet or normal?"

"Diet, please."

"Give me ten minutes. Horror films, you're still organising from rating, Rated G to Restricted and then alphabetical within each rating?"

"And series groups together in chronological order even if it ruins the alphabetical organising!"

"Awesome, I'll put all those away and then bring you one."

Taemin grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and nods, throwing a _thank you_ over his shoulder as he rushes to their in-home office. Jonghyun smiles, watching after him. Taemin always just rushes to disappear, almost coming off harsh when his mind is working, the perfect phrasing and sentencing in his mind, or the just right comparison for him to really hammer a piece home. It's the most adorable thing, truly. 

Jonghyun grabs the bag of films and heads into the living room, opening the side of their TV cabinet. He's really not sure how he's going to be able to fit all of these films in there and he sighs. He starts by kneeling and pulling a handful of films out. He stacks them; G-rated, PG-12, PG-15, R-18 and Restricted and empties the bag. Then he sits, alphabetising the G-rated before he stands up. He works the new films into the cabinet, in the right section, careful to ensure he doesn't mess anything up. He grabs the collector's editions, knowing Taemin keeps them stored under the bed as per his collection habits and then starts on the PG-12 rated films. 

He finally finishes and stands up, his legs cracking. He winces and groans a little, stretching his back before he heads back into the kitchen. He must have sorted about sixty films and he never wants to stare at a DVD rating _again_. He pulls out punnets of fruit, throwing a handful of blueberries into a bowl with a yawn. Now he needs a nap. He adds numerous berries to the bowl and pulls out half of a melon, cutting small cubes from it. He adds a drizzle of honey and a handful of pumpkin seeds and pours a can of diet cola into a cup.

He snorts, remembering how Minho used to joke about how Jonghyun just had to do it this way and make more work for them. Kibum and Jonghyun calmly explaining that drinking from cans can be dangerous, as vermin in storehouses can get on them, and cause the drinker infections, causing Minho to designate his own drinks from a can glass. 

Jonghyun puts the cup and bowl onto a tray and heads into the office, knocking on the door with his elbow. There’s a grunt from inside and Jonghyun uses his knee to push his way into the room, peering around. “Hey.”

Taemin waves his hand before he goes back to frantically typing. His shoulders are tensed, working quickly as he finishes off a paragraph before he spins round. “Did you know one of the main factors that caused Japan to start writing down their stories, mostly their horror stories, back in the 1800s was an Irish traveller called Lafcadio Hearn? He wrote a lot of their stories down and inspired a lot of others to write stories down, urban legends from the time, things like that. I don’t know if he was the main cause behind them keeping note of the stories told but it’s the earliest thing I can find right now.”

Jonghyun chuckles and sets the tray down, leaning on Taemin’s chair back to read. “That’s pretty cool. You think there was more before that?”

“Obviously we have archaic long before 1800s drawings and prints of things like demons and ghosts but how much was down to religion and how much was things like don’t do that and the boogeyman will get you, I haven’t gone through yet. Writing wise, at the moment, that is as far as I have found.” 

“Writing a follow up to your article about where and how South Korean horror became what we know today?”

“Mhm.” Taemin spears a piece of melon with his fork, sliding it into his mouth. “My editor said it would be pretty cool to take a look into Japan for it; we’ve similar dynamics in horror. A lot is centered around family breakdowns you know, the whole nuclear family thing and the ghosts which are usually still formatted around a nuclear familial breakdown. It’s actually interesting like… The whole Japanese cinematic horror culture that we know today really started in the 1960s, with _Onibaba_ in 1964 by Kaneto Shindo. That was the proper kick forward that we know today. Meanwhile, South Korea horror didn’t really start in the form that we know today until the _nineties_ . We first really saw that with _A Devilish Homicide_ in the 1960s also, but we didn’t really start seeing more until around the mid-nineties, with films like _The Hole_ , I told you about those today.”

Jonghyun nods, pulling up a chair to listen as Taemin pauses to chew.

“Whilst Japanese horror started becoming almost it’s own franchise in the 2000s with things like _Ju-On_. _Ju-On_ itself started in 1998 but it didn’t become mass popular with the cult fandom we know today until the second film in 2003, by which time, films like _One Missed Call_ and similar were starting to become more and more commonplace. For us, we had a few stand out films in 1960 with _The Housemaid_ , and 1998 with the start of _Whispering Corridors_ , and then _The Tale of Two Sisters_ in 2003. Whilst these did bring us about a similar cult following like we see that Japanese horror does, we didn’t see the rise of ours, with numbers similar to the Japanese following until the 2010s, with films like _I Saw the Devil_ . It’s really interesting comparing the rise of the numbers. We had a lot of very solid cult following with things like _Oldboy_ but nothing on the same level, you know?”

“Where do you find all this stuff?”

“If you dig around enough you can find cinema stats and everything.” Taemin offers Jonghyun a mouthful of blueberries and he gently takes them.

“So, where did the evil women in horror come from?”

“It’s got a complicated past. Do you mean in Korean or Japanese horror?”

“Mmm, Korean.”

Taemin narrows his eyes. “I wrote about this in my last piece.”

“I haven’t read it yet, I haven’t been in the right mindset that allows me to pay attention to every single word you write.” Jonghyun pouts.

Taemin grins a little, blushing. “Fine. When a woman is full of resentment, she will bring frost in May and June.”

Jonghyun chuckles. “Did you mean, my sister?”

Taemin giggles and takes a gulp of cola, leaning back in his chair. “The idea of evil women in Korean horror comes from that phrase, that a woman’s vengeance and resentment is to be feared and can cause the summer months to feel like winter. Thus, it became an object of horror over the years. Another idea is that a lot of this also comes from the fact women have been oppressed for so long, that a woman’s resentment when she dies can keep her here in corporal form and cause living hell for those who treated her wrong her entire life. There’s another, older belief - one I don’t particularly like - that if a woman dies before she can have the,” Taemin pauses to make quotation marks with his hand. “Enjoyment of the pleasure marriage and children bring to her.” He grimaces a little and takes another mouthful of cola. “Then she will not be able to move on as a spirit, and thus, being trapped between the world of the living and the world of the dead, she causes horrific phenomena to those still living. This is usually seen in those films where the daughter-in-law dies and haunts her mother-in-law, things like that.”

Jonghyun nods, pursing his lips. “I never knew it had so much of a history, and one developed so much in our culture.”

“Most don’t. It’s the same with ghost girls in white with long black hair in Japanese horror. They derive from Noh theatre productions where the demon would have long, unkempt hair - usually black or red. It became so synonymous with the ‘bad guy’ in these theater plays and was such a visual clue to when the demon or ghost would appear that it just transcended and continue to transform into what we know it as today - the ghost girl in a long white dress with straight black hair crawling out of a television screen to murder you.”

Jonghyun makes a soft _ohh_ and nods. “That’s really cool. When you think about it, like all of cinematic history really comes from that right?”

“Yeah, and not just in horror either. You can see how romance films have changed over the years as the entire country’s culture and view on dating has changed and adapted. It’s amazing, really.” 

Taemin focuses on eating his fruit salad, stifling a yawn. Jonghyun chuckles. “Are you finished with the thing you had in mind?”

Taemin nods and freezes before he spams the save button. “Yeah, I might go for a nap. What time is it? Like three?”

Jonghyun looks at his watch and nods. “Ten past. Go for a nap.”

Taemin nods and closes his laptop. “I’ll finish this then go.”

Jonghyun stands and presses a kiss to the top of Taemin’s head. Taemin makes a soft noise in his throat, happy, and Jonghyun sighs softly, content.

He heads back to the living room and listens, waiting for the sound of Taemin shutting the bedroom door to keep Roo out so she doesn’t wake him up before he dives for his phone.

_Perfect opportunity to sneak the dogs in now!!!_

He hopes it’s a good time for their friends to pull this off and settles on the couch. He listens intently for any sign Taemin is waking up, putting on whatever the television gives him. He’s on edge, stroking Roo in his lap as he waits, glancing out the window every few minutes. 

Jinki’s delivery truck pulls up, Minho’s car behind him and Jonghyun rushes outside, finger to his lips. “Taemin’s asleep. We have to do this quickly and quiet.”

Minho nods and pulls a dog crate out the back seat, smiling. “Laundry room?”

“Yeah put them in there, leave them in the crate, I’ll sort them in a second.”

Minho disappears into the house and Jinki pulls out a large cart, loading all of the candy Taemin bought into it. Jonghyun helps him get the bags unpacked and pull the cart into the house. They start unloading quickly, Minho helping them. “They’re in there, they just need to introduce themselves to Roo and where they’ll be eating. They have eaten today but if they get peckish, I tend to give them half a cup extra each.”

Jonghyun nods and steps back. "That's the last of it, you guys go, I've got this and the dogs."

Minho and Jinki nod and then head back to their cars. Jonghyun breathes out, tense for a moment, until he sees them pull away from the curb. He stares at the masses of grocery bags and shakes his head, walking into the living room. "Roo, come on girl."

Roo sits up, head still tilted from the noise and excitement and she jumps down, trotting over to Jonghyun with a soft yip. He jerks his head to the kitchen and she follows. He shuts the laundry room door behind them and she holds her head high as she approaches the pet carrier.

Jonghuyn watches as Roo sniffs at the door. There’s a soft growling from inside but her tail wags, yipping at the door. She leans against the floor, butt in the air, before she jumps around a little. The growling stops, sudden, and a nose appears through the door, sniffing. There’s a playful yip in return and Jonghyun slowly picks up Roo before he opens the door. A bundle of white and a ball of brown come shooting out, running around the laundry room, panting. The white one - Adam - jumps up at his leg, sniffing at Roo. She wriggles in Jonghyun’s arms and he slowly kneels down, placing her on the ground. They all sniff at each other, gently swiping at each other, panting and growling playfully. Eve jumps on Roo, both of them yipping and rolling around. Jonghyun holds his breath but they settle down, sniffing at each other, tails wagging.

“What the hell is going on- _Adam and Eve_?!”

Jonghyun looks up, jaw dropping, as Taemin stands in the laundry room doorway, smiling wide as he drops to his knees. Adam and Eve immediately leap on him, barking and licking him. He manages to get his arms around them, making sure they don’t fall off of his slanted knees, laughing. “What are you two doing here? Oh my gosh, my sweethearts.”

“So, you know how Halloween is this big day for you much bigger than Christmas?”

Taemin makes a muffled _yeah_ under the two dogs, laughing. 

“Well, Jinki, Kibum and Minho know how much you love these two and adopted them in your name.”

Taemin stares, gently pushing the dogs down. “Wait, what?”

“They said it was a Halloween present.”

“They’re… They’re mine?” Taemin stares at them, eyes tearing up as he grips them as tightly as he dares for a hug. “Oh my god, my _babies_.” He lays down, letting them leap on him.

Roo barks, whining a little, and Jonghyun laughs, stroking down her back. “It’s okay baby girl, they’re just excited.”

Taemin’s hand pats the floor, reaching around until he feels Roo, scratching her head gently. He eventually sits up, gasping for air, smiling as Adam and Eve curl up in his lap. “Wait, but I thought we said we were going to wait until we knew about my commute situation?”

“I just said that so you didn’t suddenly try to adopt them.”

Taemin snorts, smiling softly before he gently scoops them up. “So I now get presents on Halloween?”

Jonghyun chuckles and stands and they make their way to the living room, collapsing on the couch. They all relax and Jonghyun pulls his phone out his pocket. “Woah, it’s already five?”

“Mhm. My alarm to check my emails for the last time today woke me up.” 

Jonghyun shakes his head and opens his food delivery app, scrolling through until he finds their normal pizza place. He hits reorder and throws his phone on the couch. “Pizza will be here at six thirty.”

“You would think that Chanyeol and Sehun could get it here earlier considering there are like… forty total people in this village and they only sell and deliver in this village.”

Jonghyun chuckles. “Leave them be! You know it takes forever for them to get here because they cook every single thing fresh.”

Taemin laughs. “True, they really do their best for us all.”

Taemin stretches his legs, letting the dogs settle on his chest, cooing softly. Adam licks his cheek before settling down, falling asleep on his chest. Jonghyun smiles, stroking Roo as she hops onto his lap. "Do you wanna start a movie now?"

"Mm, not a movie, we'll be disturbed... There is that show we were watching and we were half way through the last episode before we fell asleep, maybe we should finish that off."

Jonghyun makes a noise of agreement and grabs the remote, looking through the shows they'd recorded. He puts it on and leans back. Taemin throws his feet onto Jonghyun's lap, eyes focusing on the television. Jonghyun smiles, watching the way Adam and Eve slowly make their way higher until Taemin is buried beneath them, one dog draped over his shoulder and the other on his chest. Jonghyun shakes his head, chuckling to himself before he focuses on the television. 

The episode is stressful, coming up to the final crescendo, the plot twist and - Jonghyun jumps as someone knocks on the door. All three dogs shoot off the couch, barking, running at the door. Taemin stumbles to his feet, grabbing his back pocket for his wallet only to find he's in his underwear from his nap still. Jonghyun laughs and pauses the show. "One second!"

He gets up and heads to the door. He uses his foot to gently push the dogs back into the living room, and opens the door. "Hey Jongin, new delivery job?"

"Yeah, Chanyeol offered me it. There's been construction happening on the edge of town and they've been getting a lot more orders, same with Minseok's cafe and sandwich shop. They just ring me and I show up wherever."

Jonghyun grins and takes the pizza. "Nice to know, college fund doing well?"

"Yeah, I'm finally getting somewhere with saving up rent to move."

"What are they building?"

"A fancy pizzeria. Not like anyone in this place will order from them, maybe try a slice or two but Sehun and Chanyeol's pizza is the shit."

Jonghyun pulls a face. "I was worried a Starbucks showing up would mean this."

"Yeah... but I doubt it'll happen. This place is too tight-knit for some big brands to come in and fuck us over."

"Is that my Jonginnie?!" Taemin appears next to Jonghyun's side, grinning. "Look at you, greasy pizza boy."

Jongin scoffs but steps forward to hug Taemin. "I haven't seen you for a while."

"I've been locked in my office, this is the first I've seen the light of day for a month. How's work going?"

"Boring, as per usual, driving and driving and driving, but at least everyone's fun to chat to. How's your work?"

"Fun, as usual, I get to sit and watch movies all day."

Jongin scoffs and shakes his head before he shoves his hand in his pocket. "Wait." He pulls out a small box and hands it over. Taemin raises an eyebrow before he opens it, mouth falling open.

"No, these are way too expensive."

"They weren't, I put them in a fancy box so they had a fancy box." 

Taemin grins and gently pulls the small ghost studs on the box, quick to put them in his ears. "Thank you, Jongin, I love them."

"I thought you would, I saw them and my brain just screamed Taemin. Happy Halloween, man."

Jonghyun chuckles. "Did we pay through the app?"

"You did, you're all done. I'll leave you guys to movie night."

Jongin waves and heads back down the path to his car and Taemin steps inside. Jonghyun kicks the door closed and they head back into the living room, settling back on the couch. They start on their fries, eyes glued to the screen as they finish off the episode. Taemin's fries end up on the floor as the closing credits come, on his feet. "You're going to fucking end it on a cliffhanger!? Are you kidding me!"

He drops back onto the couch, grumbling, watching the way Adam, Roo and Eve descend on the greasy treats. "Traitors."

Jonghyun laughs, finishing off his before standing up. "Alright. What treats do you want?"

"Those chocolate rolls with the orange goo in them, those new chocolate fake eyeballs and bones and some of Boa's cookies, please."

"You going to go get the costumes?"

Taemin grins and hops up, disappearing to the bedroom. Jonghyun laughs and heads to the kitchen. He gets the fancy Halloween plates out - well, he says fancy. There some cheap things that the found in Jinki's sale section, little different bowls and plates in the shape of ghosts, pumpkins, the like. He finds the correct candy packs from the bag and pulls their small bags open, arranging them as neatly on the plate as he can. He makes the eyeballs spell out _boo_ , chuckling at himself before he opens one of the cupboards. He finds the big bag of dog chocolate and a bowl, pouring some into it. Roo has a thing for chocolate; the dog chocolate has helped ween her off, but he's wary of how Adam and Eve will react to chocolate. Tonight is not the night for his boyfriend's new dogs to end up at the vet. 

"Come on, you have to get changed!"

"Alright, hold on." Jonghyun puts the pack of dog chocolate on the tray, just in case they need any more and turns around.

His heart immediately melts. 

Taemin is in a full size onesie; it's pitch black other than a grey patch to represent a stomach. The hood is pulled up, a pair of cat ears poking up on the top, with some fake whiskers attached to the side of the hood, hanging roughly where Taemin's cheeks are.

"You are the most adorable person I have ever seen and I am so thankful and lucky to have you as my boyfriend." 

Taemin's cheeks flush pink and he giggles, covering his mouth. 

Jonghyun could squeal - he might squeal. "Oh my god, it has paws."

"Your's is even cuter, it's on the bed!"

Jonghyun nods and heads by, pausing to press a kiss to Taemin's cheek. He finds his own, laid out on the bed and he grins. It's a shark with an open mouth where his head goes, fabric teeth surrounding the entire hood. He sheds his sweater and jeans, pulling the onesie on quickly. He grins in the mirror and heads back out to the living room.

Taemin's already on the couch, a chocolate roll in his mouth as he throws pieces of dog chocolate. Adam jumps and manages to catch on in mid air and Jonghyun chuckles.

"So, how are these matching?" 

"Bessw oneshy."

"What."

Taemin pulls the roll out of his mouth, chewing and swallowing. "They're onesies. You're adorable but not as adorable as me."

Jonghyun laughs and settles on the couch. "That is true, it's not something I can fight."

"Boo? Really?" Taemin grabs one of the chocolate eyeballs, popping it into his mouth which a chuckle. 

"Hey, it was funny. So, _The Closet_?"

Taemin nods and pulls his pizza into his lap, keeping his selection of chocolates on the arm of his side of the couch. 

The dogs settle down, waiting for scraps or a treat and Taemin hits play. Jonghyun enjoys his pizza, watching from the corner of his eye as Taemin makes notes on his phone, throwing the odd bit of pizza crust to the floor for the dogs. Jonghyun smiles, focusing on the film.

It's more emotional than he thought it would be and much deeper than an entire haunted house scenario and he shivers. as the credits roll. He manages to steal one of Boa's cookies as Taemin changes the DVD over, leaning back to sit with _The Red Shoes_. 

They're roughly halfway through the movie when Jonghyun pauses it and looks over. Taemin is asleep against the arm of the couch, snoring ever so softly. Jonghyun smiles and gets up. He puts the last few slices of pizza in a box and into the fridge. He throws the boxes and candy wrappers away and then puts the rest of the candy Taemin didn't devour into a jar. He decants some of the smaller pieces, the little bits of chocolate, and puts them in the cupboard before he heads back to the living room. He carefully lifts Taemin in his arms, heading to the bedroom and laying him down. 

"Huh, what, what time is it?"

"About ten thirty, you fell asleep. The excitement today must have worn you out."

"Mm." Taemin's arms jerk, disjointed as he wriggles out of his onesie. Jonghyun pulls his off and throws them in the vague direction of the laundry basket before he heads out to the hallway. He makes sure the doors are locked and herds the dogs into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them. 

Adam and Eve take up residence either side of Taemin and Jonghyun snorts. "Come on, I need space too." He lays down and plugs his phone in before getting up. He finds Taemin's phone on the couch and brings it back to the bedroom, making sure it's on charge before he lays back down. It's awkward trying to wrap his arm around Taemin's waist with Eve between them, but he figures it out. Roo curls up between their legs, her usual spot, and he sighs.

"Happy Halloween, Tae."

"Love you, Jjongie."

**Author's Note:**

> ~~aha i actually do horror film journalism in my spare time so enjoy the info dump about horror and if u check out any of the films mentioned for spooky month i hope you enjoy them as much as I did!~~


End file.
